Harbor Freight Chain Sharpner?? Anyone have one??

Not the best and it takes a lot to even get them 1/2 way set up correct. Neighbor has one and its , well , not worth it.

However ! Northern tools has one that is steel and not plastic , made in japan and is built by Maxx grinders. $229.00 reg price on sale for $99.00 This is the way i would go.

Otherwise learn to hand file or get a Maxx or Oregon grinder.



http://www.northerntool.com/webapp/wcs/stores/servlet/product_6970_200327449_200327449

http://cgi.ebay.com/Oregon-Bench-Ch...3QQihZ013QQcategoryZ11704QQrdZ1QQcmdZViewItem

I got it when it was selling for $20. It's not the highest quality, as you might imagine. In particular. the clamp that holds the chain in place needed some modification for me. It was only grabbing the bottom of the link before the cutter, but not the link after. This allowed the cutter to pivot up when being ground. I put in a thin metal spacer and it seems to clamp a little better, but I think next time I use it I'll just add some tape to the inside of the clamp until both links hold tight. The mechanism for calibrating the depth of the cut is a bit flimsy, but workable, although matching the depth from left to right cutters seems tricky.

Still, for $20 it seems like a good value. It rescued a chain I had given up for dead; I accidently cut a good groove in some sandstone, after cutting very sandy and dirty logs. I do hand file my chains but I'm not that good at it; after 4-5 hand filings my chains always start to cut crooked, and they don't hold an edge as long. At least with this unit the grinding wheel is secured at the right angle, whereas with a hand file you can easily wander from the correct angle or round the edge.

wingnut said:

Thanks Roo Off subject but how do you get the link to work?

Thanks Paul

Click to expand...

I just copy and out of the web address and paste it to the forum.

looks like the h of the start of your http is missing.

EDIT: its there it just got misplaced.

wingnut said:

Thanks Roo Off subject but how do you get the link to work?

Thanks Paul

Click to expand...

For some not so computer savvy as spike Highlight the address and press control then c go back to the forum in your message and hit control then v............My kids taught me that one :red:
almost forgot..... Sharpen it by hand it's not that bad and it's a little cheaper I must have 10 files around here because I can never find them when I need them.

I say go with hand filing. Thoes grinders eat chains up. We have one at work and no one uses it.

do not buy!! did it tried it smashed it and returned it!
100% plastic even the grinder blade nut!

wingnut said:

That didnt seem to work eather Roo your links are in blue,that lets you know it is a link. I coped and paste but it did not come out highlighterd blue?

Click to expand...

Delete the first link.

Go to the web page you are wanting to show , go to the top address bar, right click the web address ....... it will highlight and as you are right clicking go to copy.

Go back to the thread post and under your posted information right click again and go to paste ... now your web link is live and pasted to your thread post.

wingnut said:

Thanks for ever-ones input on the sharpener. Roo that is what I did the first time I sent the link? Do you have to hit any of the bars above the reply like code or @ <a> ? I know it should not be this hard. When I copy and paste it does show up but when roll the mouse over the adress it does nothing?

Thanks Paul

Click to expand...

http://www.harborfreight.com/cpi/ctaf/displayitem.taf?Itemnumber=93213
I just highlighted this from your first post copied it, hit the qoute box and pasted it here. the forum should recognize web addresses, well we'll see if it turns blue.

It worked try it again but highlight your first post and do the control c and v It's easier for me to do it this way because I work off a laptop and that little scratch pad at the bottom sucks....... its not as responsive as a mouse.

earthharvester said:

I say go with hand filing. Thoes grinders eat chains up. We have one at work and no one uses it.

Click to expand...

I've seen this statement a lot, and it confuses me. Even the cheap plastic HF unit under discussion has a knob for setting how much to cut. You can take off as little as you want. Now, for a chain that is really screwed up, you may need to take off a lot; here hand filing would be a huge pain.

I'll agree that hand-filing is an important skill to learn, but I clearly have yet to master it and eventually my chains become unbalanced. A grinder is a way to "reset" things now and then, to get more life out of a chain. For $20 I'm happy, although that $99 unit looks so much better made.

DiscoInferno said:

earthharvester said:

I say go with hand filing. Thoes grinders eat chains up. We have one at work and no one uses it.

Click to expand...

I've seen this statement a lot, and it confuses me. Even the cheap plastic HF unit under discussion has a knob for setting how much to cut. You can take off as little as you want. Now, for a chain that is really screwed up, you may need to take off a lot; here hand filing would be a huge pain.

I'll agree that hand-filing is an important skill to learn, but I clearly have yet to master it and eventually my chains become unbalanced. A grinder is a way to "reset" things now and then, to get more life out of a chain. For $20 I'm happy, although that $99 unit looks so much better made.

Click to expand...

That chain would have to be pretty bad for me to need something other than a hand file.... I mean were talking about what maybe 4-5 strokes normally per tooth?

I typically do 5-10 per tooth, depending on how dull. But if you hit a rock, or have really sandy wood (both typical at times for me, unfortunately), then you can scrape off the hardened outer coating back quite a ways. Then 5 strokes won't produce an edge that lasts. The new chain I hit sandstone with, I couldn't rescue with something like 40 strokes. (Which isn't to say that someone better at hand filing couldn't have done so.) But with the grinder I took off maybe 1/16" or more quickly and uniformly. Certainly the chain lost a lot of lifespan, but at least it cuts again.

DiscoInferno said:

I typically do 5-10 per tooth, depending on how dull. But if you hit a rock, or have really sandy wood (both typical at times for me, unfortunately), then you can scrape off the hardened outer coating back quite a ways. Then 5 strokes won't produce an edge that lasts. The new chain I hit sandstone with, I couldn't rescue with something like 40 strokes. (Which isn't to say that someone better at hand filing couldn't have done so.) But with the grinder I took off maybe 1/16" or more quickly and uniformly. Certainly the chain lost a lot of lifespan, but at least it cuts again.

Click to expand...

Chainsaws are for wood not rock :cheese:
No i'm just kidding with you here, I understand where you are coming from but for me it's like the "should I buy an ash vac" question..... For the # of times I would use it it just is not worth it......... To me

Trust me, it didn't cut very far into the rock! I was cutting up a big stack of 8' logs from clearing our land; they got buried in sand with some rocks mixed in. I cleaned as best I could, but the sand got under the bark and many of the logs were too big to move without cutting first. It was murder on the chain. What's worse, at least one of those logs was (I realized when splitting) a good-sized curly sugar maple. Talk about expensive firewood...

Anyway, my cost/benefit was easy: last time I bought chain it was $14/loop. So if my $20 grinder saves 2 chains, I'm in the black. For $40, though, I probably would have passed given the quality. Did I mention it throws cool sparks?

Incidently, I wish I had an ash vacuum, but I'm not about to get one of those for the prices I've seen.

GVA said:

Chainsaws are for wood not rock :cheese:
No i'm just kidding with you here, I understand where you are coming from but for me it's like the "should I buy an ash vac" question..... For the # of times I would use it it just is not worth it......... To me

Click to expand...

You just need the right chainsaw.
http://www.toolfetch.com/Category--Masonry_Saws--Concrete_Chain_Saws--k950-chain.shtml
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Andre' B.

What type or brand of machine does the shop use to sharpen chains when you take them in??

i've been using this for many years and love it. works awesome. slap it right on your dremel tool and you're good to go. you can do your whole chain in about 3 minutes. i keep meaning to see if my small dc to ac power converter that plugs into my lighter can run my dremel making this thing totally mobile. i have to cut wood tomorrow so i'll try it.

http://tinyurl.com/yjxn85